1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to robots, and more specifically to a child-care robot and a method of controlling a child-care robot. The present invention is particularly useful as a playmate for young children as well as an aid for teachers in nursery schools or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
In modern society, there are an increasing number of working parents whose concern is on raising their families, particularly their young children. Nursery schools are becoming a social need. However, the number of public and private nursery schools is not sufficient in some local areas and reducing the number of non-admitted children to zero has become a public issue of the areas. The problem hinges on the personnel expenditure of nursery school teachers which accounts for a greater portion of the running cost of nursery school.
Recent advances in microprocessors and robotics have culminated in the development of two-footed robots known under the trade names of “Aibo” and “Asimo”. These robots are playmate robots, not dedicated to perform a particular assignment, such as child care.
Japanese Patent Publication 2000-353012 discloses a robot for nursing the aged or the handicapped. The robot has an eye whose viewing point is determined with respect to the position of a user. In response to a voice command from the user, the robot interprets the voice command at the determined viewing point and determines its direction of motion.
However, the prior art playmate and nursing robots are unsatisfactory to meet the need of reducing the personnel expenditure of nursery schools.